Latest news with #LeighSegall
Barnama
16 hours ago
- Business
- Barnama
AI Crosses The Trust Threshold: Half Of All Consumers Embrace It For Critical Life Advice
NEW YORK, June 25 (Bernama) -- Smart Communications, a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations, released its 2025 Customer Experience Benchmark research today. The global survey of 3000 consumers found that while many are ready for artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their experiences in healthcare, financial services and insurance, they remain frustrated with poor omnichannel experiences and outdated form processes. 'Customers' expectations are set by the best brands in retail, technology and eCommerce,' said Leigh Segall, CEO, Smart Communications. 'When healthcare, banking and insurance organizations fail to meet these expectations, they risk losing customer loyalty and business. That's why we set out every year to gauge where that bar is set, and light the way for organizations in these industries to exceed their customers' expectations through frictionless, digital-first experiences.'
Techday NZ
21 hours ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Poor data intake drives customer disengagement in Australia & NZ
Smart Communications has published its 2025 Customer Experience Benchmark research, which reveals that poor communication methods and outdated data intake processes are contributing to significant customer disengagement across Australia and New Zealand. Key findings The global survey, which included responses from 3,000 consumers, examined experiences with healthcare, financial services, and insurance organisations. The research indicates that although consumer attitudes towards artificial intelligence (AI) are improving, a majority remain dissatisfied with current omnichannel communication offerings and form-filling processes. Nearly two-thirds of Australian (64%) and New Zealand (60%) consumers indicated that they would end their interaction with a company if the data intake process was too complex. This sentiment was particularly pronounced among Millennials (73%) and Generation Z respondents (71%). The study also found that 61% of Australian and 58% of New Zealand respondents rated their communications from service providers as good or excellent. However, 84% in Australia and 85% in New Zealand considered customer communications an important part of their overall experience, and a large proportion—67% in Australia and 61% in New Zealand—would consider switching companies if communications did not meet expectations. According to Leigh Segall, Chief Executive Officer at Smart Communications, "Customers' expectations are set by the best brands in retail, technology and eCommerce. When healthcare, banking and insurance organisations fail to meet these expectations, they risk losing customer loyalty and business. That's why we set out every year to gauge where that bar is set and light the way for organisations in these industries to exceed their customers' expectations through frictionless, digital-first experiences." AI acceptance and trust The report highlights that consumers are displaying increased openness to the use of AI in customer communications, particularly when its benefits are demonstrated through real-world scenarios. Nearly half of all ANZ respondents stated they would value AI for financial advice (41% in both countries), suggestions for insurance plan changes (46% AU, 54% NZ), or health recommendations (47% AU, 49% NZ). Less than half of all respondents expressed concerns about AI's secure or ethical handling of data, with figures at 39% in Australia and 45% in New Zealand for security, and 39% in Australia and 44% in New Zealand for ethics. Notably, only 37% of respondents believe that a disclaimer is necessary every time AI is used in customer communications, compared to 77% a year earlier. Despite increasing comfort and trust in AI, confidence in its communication abilities remains low. Only 15% of Australian and 9% of New Zealand participants believe generative AI outperforms humans in creating customer communications content. Over half (51% AU, 55% NZ) believe human oversight of AI-generated content is necessary. Omnichannel experiences and communication preferences Findings showed just over half (54%) of consumers reported satisfaction with omnichannel experiences from service providers. Trust in organisations was also associated with the quality of these experiences, with 53% of Australians and 44% of New Zealanders more likely to trust companies that offered a consistent approach across channels. Preferences also varied by generation, with Silent Generation respondents (aged 79 to 97) most likely to favour email (48%), while only 39% of Generation Z chose email as their first choice. Print communication was the least preferred overall, at 12%. Digital forms crucial for engagement Form filling remains a significant cause of customer frustration. Two-thirds of respondents said they would abandon a business if the data intake process proved too onerous, underscoring the importance of simplicity and speed. A large majority (90%) cited these as their top priorities when completing forms. Guided digital forms were preferred by 63% of all consumers over fillable PDF documents. There was strong support for digital data collection options, with 80% of Australian and 74% of New Zealand respondents favouring digital processes over those requiring printing, scanning, or mailing. "The data is clear: consumers are ready to see what AI can do," said Leigh Segall. "Organisations have an opportunity to use this groundbreaking technology to create outstanding customer experiences that exceed consumer expectations. Our research shows them where to start, by orchestrating smarter omnichannel experiences." Additional detailed findings, charts, and analyses are available through Smart Communications' digital resources, providing insights by industry, region, and demographic groups. The research was carried out online with a nationally representative audience of customers from the insurance, financial services, and healthcare sectors in the US, UK, APAC—including Australia and New Zealand—and German-speaking markets.
Business Upturn
18-06-2025
- Business
- Business Upturn
Smart Communications Simplifies Digital Archiving with Launch of SmartHUB™
New York, United States: Smart Communications ,the leading provider for cloud-based enterprise customer communications, today announced the availability of SmartHUB , a new cloud-native digital archiving solution designed to help businesses manage high-volume communications at scale, provide easy access to critical archived data, and ensure compliance with evolving industry regulations, regardless of sector or region. SmartHUB is built on the proven technology acquired through Smart Communications' April 2025 acquisition of Joisto, a leading digital archiving provider, and is now fully integrated into the Conversation Cloud™ platform. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: As businesses face growing data volumes, disconnected systems, and increasingly complex regulations, SmartHUB tackles these inefficiencies head-on. It enables seamless integration across systems and reduces IT burden and operational complexity, all while maintaining a strong focus on data security and compliance. With SmartHUB, businesses can trust that their data is securely managed and compliant with evolving regulations, ensuring both operational efficiency and peace of mind. 'By harnessing the power of cloud-native technology, we're enabling our customers to stay ahead of an increasingly complex and fast-moving regulatory environment, while significantly reducing operational risk, simplifying system complexity, and strengthening data security,' said Leigh Segall, CEO at Smart Communications. 'Just as we've redefined how enterprises manage customer communications and forms with modern, scalable solutions, we're now doing the same for archiving—giving organizations a trusted path to move away from legacy systems. SmartHUB will fundamentally transform how organizations store, access, and protect their most critical communications and customer data assets, unlocking new value that was previously out of reach.' Designed on AWS and purpose-built for regulatory environments, SmartHUB also helps organizations proactively manage their legal obligations by offering immutable, audit-ready storage, comprehensive audit trails, and retention rule configurations across multiple jurisdictions with technology that meets requirements for GDPR, ISO 14641, and WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The platform simplifies the complexity of compliance across geographies, allowing enterprises to automate retention policies, track document lineage, and rapidly respond to audits or litigation. ' SmartHUB expands the Smart Communications value proposition significantly, offering a more complete end-to-end platform for managing the entire customer conversation, from creation and delivery to long-term, compliant storage and retrieval. It differentiates Smart Communications in a competitive market by directly addressing a critical pain point for its core customer base,' said Jim Lundy, Founder and CEO at Aragon Research. SmartHUB uses flexible APIs and enterprise-level configuration management to integrate across other ERP, CRM, and HR systems, embedding compliance directly into core business workflows. This enables it to connect teams across customer service, IT, sales, claims handlers and more, reducing common friction points and latency when dealing with a customer service case, on-demand portal requests from end customers, or even to support compliance or litigation requests. 'SmartHUB was designed to meet the demands of today's communications landscape—where speed, security, and compliance are non-negotiable. With ingestion speeds of up to one million documents per hour and a cloud-native architecture, it eliminates the need for hardware while ensuring scalable, always-on access to critical data,' said Simon Tindal, CTO at Smart Communications. 'As AI transforms how archived communications are used—whether for real-time decisioning, self-service, or context-rich customer interactions—SmartHUB ensures that high-volume data is not just stored, but instantly retrievable and audit-ready.' SmartHUB has proven success across financial services, insurance, telco, and utilities, making it an ideal fit for any organization with high customer communications volumes, complex compliance needs, or large customer service operations. As part of the Conversation Cloud, it simplifies archiving at scale and unlocks seamless integration with SmartCOMM™ and SmartIQ™ , offering teams a single, secure place to create, manage, and access all critical customer interactions. To see how SmartHUB transforms archiving into an advantage, visit . About Smart Communications: Smart Communications is the trusted choice for regulated enterprises looking to modernize complex processes and connect with customers in the moments that matter most. Its Conversation Cloud™ platform powers frictionless, compliant, digital-first experiences through omnichannel communications, intelligent data capture, and secure digital archival. More than 650 enterprises worldwide—including Zurich Insurance, Priority Health, The Pacific Financial Group, and The Bancorp—rely on Smart Communications to reduce compliance risk, boost operational efficiency, lower costs, and fast-track digital transformation that fuels business growth and elevates the customer experience. With more than 30 pre-built connectors, Smart Communications' cloud-native platform integrates effortlessly with the world's most trusted enterprise systems including Salesforce, Guidewire, DuckCreek, OneSpan, and Pega, enabling more than 60 billion mission-critical customer conversations globally, and driving faster time to value. View source version on Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Techday NZ
28-04-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Smart Communications expands cloud archive platform with Joisto
Smart Communications has acquired Joisto, a cloud data archive company, expanding its cloud-based platform for enterprise customer communications. The acquisition will allow Smart Communications' customers to store, manage, and retrieve digital records and documents securely, supporting compliance with regulatory data retention requirements in highly regulated sectors. Leigh Segall, Chief Executive Officer of Smart Communications, said, "We're delighted to incorporate Joisto's deep expertise in cloud archival into Smart Communications. Our leading Conversation Cloud Platform already enables our customers to manage sophisticated customer conversations at tremendous scale. With the addition of Joisto, we will extend these capabilities to meet an increasing need for regulatory-compliant and readily accessible storage of these conversations in the cloud. Together we will support customers worldwide as they continue their journey to modernise and transform customer conversations." Joisto's solution integrates with a variety of corporate systems through comprehensive APIs, allowing organisations to store documents regardless of source. It features extensive data-ingestion capabilities and a scalable cloud architecture, supporting large document volumes and remote access. The system is designed to comply with industry regulations, including GDPR, focusing on document integrity, authorisation, and user validation. Tommi Hänninen, Chief Executive Officer of Joisto, said, "Joisto is thrilled to join forces with Smart Communications. We deeply understand the importance of archival in regulated industries and we are especially proud to partner with an organisation that is equally passionate about providing industry-leading capabilities through a modern, cloud-based architecture. The combination of Smart Communications and Joisto represents an exciting step forward for both companies and our customers." The acquisition follows a period of rapid growth for Smart Communications, which has consolidated its presence in the cloud Customer Communications Management (CCM) and Interaction Experience Management (IXM) sectors. The company has attracted industry recognition for its work with healthcare, financial services, insurance, and government clients. Industry analyst groups such as IDC, Aspire, Aragon, Datos, and Celent have rated Smart Communications as a strategic leader, citing its vision, cloud strategy, and product development. Smart Communications has indicated that it will continue to extend its Conversation Cloud platform through ongoing integrations and partnerships with other vendors, as well as facilitating seamless conversations and archival solutions for enterprise customers. Follow us on: Share on:
Associated Press
24-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Smart Communications Announces Acquisition of Joisto
LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 24, 2025-- Smart Communications TM, the leading cloud-based platform for enterprise customer communications, today announces it has acquired Joisto, a cloud data archive company. As a result, customers will now have the ability to seamlessly store, manage and retrieve digital records and documents, while meeting the stringent requirements for data retention that govern regulated industries worldwide. 'We're delighted to incorporate Joisto's deep expertise in cloud archival into Smart Communications,' said Leigh Segall, CEO of Smart Communications. 'Our leading Conversation Cloud Platform already enables our customers to manage sophisticated customer conversations at tremendous scale. With the addition of Joisto, we will extend these capabilities to meet an increasing need for regulatory-compliant and readily accessible storage of these conversations in the cloud. Together we will support customers worldwide as they continue their journey to modernize and transform customer conversations.' Joisto's cloud-based archive solution is built to seamlessly connect to a wide range of core solutions across corporate ecosystems using a comprehensive set of APIs. This enables customers to store, manage, and retrieve documents, irrespective of their source. With powerful data-ingestion capabilities and a modern, scalable, cloud architecture, Joisto easily meets customer requirements to store large volumes of documents, while enabling access from any location. Built with industry regulations and retention rules in mind, Joisto supports compliance with GDPR while driving enhanced document integrity, document authorization and user validation. 'Joisto is thrilled to join forces with Smart Communications,' commented Joisto CEO, Tommi Hänninen. 'We deeply understand the importance of archival in regulated industries and we are especially proud to partner with an organization that is equally passionate about providing industry-leading capabilities through a modern, cloud-based architecture. The combination of Smart Communications and Joisto represents an exciting step forward for both companies and our customers.' The acquisition comes alongside a period of sustained, rapid growth for Smart Communications, as the company has consolidated its leadership position in the cloud CCM (Customer Communications Management) and IXM (Interaction Experience Management) sectors and earned recognition for its strength among today's leading healthcare, financial services, insurance, and government organizations. In addition, analyst firms including IDC, Aspire, Aragon, Datos, and Celent have once again ranked Smart Communications as a strategic leader and highlighted the company's vision, cloud strategy, and product innovation. As Smart Communications extends capabilities across the Conversation Cloud with this acquisition, the company will continue to integrate and partner with leading platform vendors worldwide to make ongoing customer conversations – and archival – seamless for the enterprises we serve. About Smart Communications Smart Communications provides the platform that leading organizations trust to deliver personalized, consistent, and compliant conversations across all touchpoints and channels. The Conversation Cloud™ consists of SmartCOMM™, for enterprise-scale customer communications, SmartIQ™ for digital forms transformation, and SmartDX™ for trade documentation. Over 650 enterprise organizations across the globe rely on Smart Communications to simplify and automate complex processes and deliver highly secure, frictionless experiences across the customer lifecycle. To learn more, visit About Joisto Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Joisto is a leading provider of pure cloud data archival and management solutions. Over 700 end customers make use of Joisto's solutions to store, manage and retrieve their digital records and documents, ensuring that they meet regulatory requirements specific to their industry and geography. The Joisto platform leverages a modern, multi-tenant, SaaS architecture to ensure rapid scalability to meet the proliferating archival needs of customers, whilst meeting the archival compliance certification ISO146412. To learn more, visit View source version on Media [email protected] KEYWORD: AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA IRELAND SOUTHEAST ASIA NORTH AMERICA UNITED STATES SINGAPORE ASIA PACIFIC UNITED KINGDOM NEW ZEALAND EUROPE FINLAND NEW YORK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DATA MANAGEMENT OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TECHNOLOGY OTHER TECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE INTERNET SOURCE: Smart Communications Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 04/24/2025 09:45 AM/DISC: 04/24/2025 09:44 AM
